Thread: Voltage Current display box

This project involves mains power so the usual disclaimers apply.

I have put V/I meters on some of my machines as I find current draw useful diagnostic while running a machine.
However, for machines which don't have these meters or when testing motors etc I made up one of these which I can inset between the GPO and machine.


PB1.jpg
It's just a project box with Voltage (red) and current (green) readouts, a double GPO and a 10A breaker in case things go pear shaped while testing.
The 266V on display is not right my Voltmeter says 251V today.
That's a general problem with these cheap meters - they start out OK but then read higher and higher.
The Current on this one also reads about 10% too low.

However the unit above was only good for 10A and so I thought I would make one for testing bigger (eg 15A) machines.

PB2b.jpg
This one has a 16A breaker and a DIN rail meter display that shows voltage, current plus a toggleable button that shows power or power factor.
The breaker and meter and mounted on a short DIN rail at a height that allows the breaker and display to poke thru a hole cut in the project box lid.

The display cost $20 on fleabay and so far seems to be reading the right voltage.
The current sensing coil is buried inside the display unit so all one has to do is feed the active through a hole in the body of the display.
PB2c.jpg